Flash memory cards are high-capacity storing media developed to meet consumers' demands in storing the huge amount of information and data, and have been widely adopted by consumers to replace the conventional floppy disk. The flash memory cards have also led to the prosperous development in the card reader industry.
Several years ago, the flash memory cards were popular only in the field of digital cameras, and most of them were directly connected to a computer via a USB data transmission line. The most important function of the flash memory card at that time was to store photos taken with a digital camera. However, the flash memory card must be connected to the computer via a transmission line and a driver must be installed in the computer for the flash memory card to work. Inconveniences surface when the flash memory card is to be used on more than one computer. Nevertheless, flash memory cards have since been developed to store multi-media information, prompting the development of card readers that are now an important apparatus bridging the flash memory cards and computers.
The main function of the card reader is to serve as a bridge between the flash memory card and the computer to complete data transmission between them. Via the card reader, a user may browse photos stored on the flash memory card, listen to music, and store files on a computer without being connected to the computer. The flash memory card is therefore effortlessly upgraded to a mini massive storage device that can be easily carried along with the user. Currently, there are various types of card readers for use with flash memory cards of different specifications, such as, for example, CompactFlash Type I&II (CF), Microdrive (MD), SmartMedia (SM), Memory Stick (MS), MS Pro, MS Duo, MultiMedia Card (MMC), Secure Digital (SD), and the newly developed xD Picture card (xD). With the introduction of the above-mentioned various types of flash memory cards into the market, the card readers also have been developed from one reader one slot to the one reader multiple slots in order to adapt to different flash memory cards.
It is difficult for consumers to have complete ideas about all these flash memory cards currently available in the market. When a card reader is connected to the Microsoft Windows operating system via a universal serial bus (USB), the system would identify how many flash memory cards in the card slots of the card reader are supported by the card reader, and would show the same number of removable hard disks on the screen of the computer. Moreover, regardless of whether there is a flash memory card inserted in a card slot, all the currently available card readers are adapted to report the total number of card slots, and Windows will always show the same number of removable hard disks as that of the reported card slots. Under the circumstance, it is uneasy for a user to tell which one of the icons of the removable hard disks represents which specific flash memory card slot. The user could hardly tell from the icons on the screen what type of flash memory card has been inserted in a card slot, particularly when the card reader includes multiple card slots. A conventional method of detecting a current state of a card reader is to show each detected supporting flash memory card as a removable hard disk. The user may be confused by these additional removable hard disks, and fails to tell from the screen which one of the card slots has a flash memory card inserted therein, and what is the exact type of the inserted flash memory card.
Another problem with most currently available electronic products is that there is not any sign before any failure or disorder of such electronic products. From past experiences, the most common reasons for the failure or disorder of an electronic product include aging of internal electronic components or parts, and incorrect operation of the product. When similar conditions occur on a card reader or a flash memory card inserted therein, it is very possible to lose all the data stored in the memory card, or to seriously damage the computer and other peripherals connected thereto. And, it is impossible for the user to know the damaged state in advance. Therefore, it is desirable to previously detect the most current state of the card reader or the flash memory card inserted therein to avoid the above-mentioned undesired events.